Richard Kress (alternative writing Richard Kreß) (6 March 1925 – 30 March 1996) was a German

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Club career

Kress played for

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

from 1953 until 1964 as a typical

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He won the

1959 German football championship The 1959 German football championship was the culmination of the football season in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1958–59. Eintracht Frankfurt were crowned champions for the first time after a group stage and a final.1960 European Cup final The 1960 European Cup final was a football match played at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland on 18 May 1960 as the conclusion to the 1959–60 European Cup. The match was contested by four-time defending champions Real Madrid of Spain, the onl ...

which was lost to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

7–3 on 18 May at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

in Glasgow in front of 135,000 spectators, in which he scored the first goal of the match. Kress was the oldest player to make his debut in the newly formed

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

against

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

on 24 August 1963, aged 38 years and 171 days.

International career

Kress was capped nine times for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

between 1954 and 1961 contributing two goals. When he scored his first goal – against Northern Ireland in World Cup qualifying on May 10, 1961 – he was 36 years and 65 days old, making him the oldest debut goalscorer of the national team to this day (as of 2024)

Honours

Eintracht Frankfurt * German championship: 1958–59 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

runner-up: 1959–60 *

Oberliga Süd Oberliga () may refer to: Association football * Oberliga (football), currently the fifth tier of the German football league system, formerly the first * DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of football in East Germany until 1990, replaced by the NOFV-O ...

: 1958–59; runner-up 1953–54, 1960–61, 1961–62 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

runner-up: 1963–64

References

External links

Richard Kress
at eintracht-archiv.de 1925 births 1996 deaths Sportspeople from Fulda German men's footballers West German men's footballers Footballers from Kassel (region) Men's association football forwards Germany men's international footballers Bundesliga players Eintracht Frankfurt players {{germany-footy-forward-1920s-stub